This is a selected list of recent publications with information about/relevant to green economic development in the Chicago region.
For a more comprehensive list please visit our national partner Green for All .
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Building a Green Collar Workforce in Chicagolan
Building a Green Collar Workforce in Chicagoland
Chicagoland Green Collar Jobs Initiative
This report released by the Chicagoland Green Collar Jobs Initiative points to the job creation
potential of green collar jobs in the Chicago region. It highlights the numerous policy
opportunities – including climate legislation, additional resources for environmental programs,
and changes to environmental standards – that may help spur the development of new green
collar jobs throughout Chicagoland.
Please click here for our full press release.
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Greener Skills: How Credentials Create Value in the Clean Energy Economy
Greener Skills: How Credentials Create Value in the Clean Energy Economy
Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS)
Green jobs and the skills necessary to do them continue to attract intense attention in this country
and elsewhere, fueled by global climate change and job market collapse. The attention is important,
but uncoordinated investment in greening the American workforce threatens to create more chaos in
an already cluttered U.S. training system. This paper assesses the state of “green” training (a tumult of
often inconsistent credentials and competencies across industries, employers, and providers); offers
our normative argument for doing better; and provides specific policy solutions on implementing a
national credentialing system and ensuring equitable access to it.
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Greener Pathways: Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy
Greener Pathways: Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy
Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS)
Across the country–in the media, in boardrooms, think tanks, and community organizations; in
local and state government; in Congress and on the campaign trail–people are talking about the
economic promise of clean energy. Greener Pathways puts jobs at the heart of this animated
national conversation. This report provides information on the kind and quality of jobs in the
clean energy economy; the skills needed to fill these jobs; and how existing plants and their workers
–especially those in the beleaguered industrial heartland–can move to the center of the clean energy
economy. These nuts and bolts issues bring labor, business, community and education together
as partners in the new industrial revolution.
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Green Prosperity: How Clean Energy Policies can Fight Poverty...
Green Prosperity: How Clean Energy Policies can Fight Poverty and Raise Living Standards
in the United States
PERI, NDRC, and Green for All
The findings of this report indicate that clean-energy investments create more job opportunities
than spending on fossil fuels across all levels of skill and education. The largest benefits will acrue to
workers with low educational credentials.
This paper further indicates that a high proportion of the jobs generated by clean-energy investments
should offer good opportunities for advancement through training programs and more generally that
newly employed low-income workers will see new opportunities to lift themselves and their families
out of poverty.
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Green Cities: How Urban Sustainability Efforts Can and Must....
Green Cities: How Urban Sustainability Efforts Can and Must Drive America’s
Climate Change Policies
Living Cities
This report showcases and supports the innovative ways in which cities are creating an equitable
green economy. This report is based on conversations with the brightest thinkers in the field, and
the findings from their survey of 40 of the country’s largest cities. “Green Cities” takes a step back
to see what cities have accomplished, while also identifying areas in which their efforts have fallen
short.
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Going Green: The Vital Role of Community Colleges in building a Sustainable...
Going Green: The Vital Role of Community College in Building a Sustainable Future and
Green Workforce
National Council for Workforce Education and the Academy for Adult Development
This report examines the growing role of community colleges in a low carbon clean energy economy
and provides examples of innovative strategies used by community colleges to address climate
change. environmental stewardship, and green workforce development.
Additionally, this report offers information on the fastest growing sectors and jobs in the clean
energy/green economy that provide strategic opportunities for community colleges and their
students, while stimulating dialogue on the role of community colleges in creating a sustainable
future.
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The Economic Development Potential of the Green Sector
The Economic Development Potential of the Green Sector
UCLA Center for Regional Policy Studies
This report details policy recommendations on establishing a regional green economy
to meet the growing demand for green jobs and services. Establishing guidelines for
promoting economic development, supporting a region in becoming more environmentally
sound, and strengthening economic equity by including disadvantaged populations
in the green work force.
